Expanded metal structure.



No. 65l,642. Patented lune I2, I900. 1 A. P. WHITE.

EXPANDED METAL STRUCTURE.

(Application filed Dec. 12, 1898. Renewed Mar. 29, 1900.)

(No Model.) I

WITNESSES INVENT H fi M wnm M m ,5};

A TTOHNE) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER P. WHITE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN METAL LATH COMPANY, OF NEW JERSEY.

EXPANDED METAL STRUCTURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,642, dated June 12,1900.

Application filed December 12, 189B. Renewed March 29, 1900. terial No. 10,699. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER RWHITE, of the city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Expanded Metal Structures, of which the following is a description, referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The object of the invention -is to improve to expanded metal structures such as are used, for example, for metal lathingso that the plaster may be held in a more secure and efficient manner and at the same time that the thickness of the plaster or mortar may be re- I 5 duced.

' The invention relates to the class of structures in which a series of slots are cut par allel with each other and of equal length, and the structure is then expanded so that the strips of metal between the cuts form a parallel slotted construction.

In order to render a prolonged description of the general art to which my invention re lates unnecessary, I refer to the patent to Gibson, No. 451318, granted April 28, 1891, and the patent to Hilton, No. 588,576, granted August 24, 1897.

In all prior constructions of this nature with which I am acquainted the slats or strips 0 of the metal when expanded lie more or less directly edgewise to the original plane of the sheet. I have discovered that it is possible to roll, fold, or otherwise turn the slats so that they all lie in the same plane, thereby 5 not only decreasing the necessary thickness of the plaster coating which is to be applied to them, but also greatly decreasing the space between neighboring slats or strips,whi1e increasing the grip or hold which the slatted structure will have upon the plaster. In short, the approaching edges of neighboring slats come nearer together and at the same time form opposing sharp edges lying in the same plane for holding the plaster.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of my invention as applied to an expanded metal structure.

Figure 1 shows a portion of such a structure embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan View of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a section on the plane of 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 a modifi cation.

Throughout the drawings like letters of reference indicate like parts.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the slats S are flattened 5 5 or turned'into a common plane, as is clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3; but each slat has been turned on its longitudinal axis one hundred and eighty degrees, so that its rear face is turned to the front and its front face turned to the rear of the structure. Fig. 4 differs from this form only in having the slats S flattened or turned, just as though they had never been displaced from the original plane,though, of course, the ends of all the slats are bent, folded, or corrugated by the deforming or expanding of the original sheet to form the openwork slatted structure.

' I have purposely omitted any illustration of the general arrangement of the sheet as a Whole, its continuation toward the right be ing indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 2, since the channels which it is customary to form between the several series of slats may be of any shape without interfering with my invention, which relates only to the flattening of the slats into a common plane or substantially to a common plane. Obviously if the slats are only partly flattened the purposes of my invention will be fulfilled to a lesser degree than if they are actually flattened out, as illustrated. In practice I prefer to perfect the flattening by means of machinery, either pressing the slatted structure under a suitable pressure after it has been expanded or by rolling the slats, so as to flatten them under the action of a roller the face of [which is somewhat shorter than the length of each slat. The manner of constructing my improved form of' structure is, however, imma- 9o terial to my invention.

I claim, and desire to secure as the novel and characteristic features of my invention, the following:

1. The expanded metal structure of sheet metal, comprising one or more parallel series of slats or laths, separated by intervals and narrowing the intervals between neighboring flattened so as to lie substantially in the same slats, substantially as set forth. In common plane, substantially as set forth. Signed this 7 th day of December, 1898, at

2. The expanded metal structure of sheet New York, N. Y. 5 metal formed of slitted sheet metal stretched ALEXANDER P. XVHITE;

into a plaster or mortar holding open-work, Witnesses: the slats or strips of which are turned or fiat- GEORGE H. SONNEBORN, tened toward their common plane thereby HAROLD BINNEY. 

